Bookish Problems!

In today’s post, I would like to share with you my top bookish problems. These are problems that likely only other book lovers or roommates of book lovers will understand. And really, I don’t think they are problems so much as cute little quirks of mine. Of course, my hubby may disagree. 😉

Bookish Problem #1:

Turning completely OCD when it comes to arranging my bookshelves. There are just so many options – by genre, by author, by color! I finally get them arranged how I want them – for now anyway! – and then someone tries to be helpful by re-shelving books that I’ve left “lying around” not realizing that those books were piled because I’m reading them –  yes, ALL of them. I try to casually re-shelve the books back to their proper places because, come on, Harry Potter doesn’t go with the biographies, now does he? Like I said, bookshelf OCD.

Bookish Problem #2:

I am physically incapable of walking away from a book sale. I tell myself to turn and walk away but I am suddenly no longer in control of my own body and it is physically impossible to walk in the opposite direction of the books. The signs call out to me – paperbacks 3 for $1, hardcovers $1 each and is that the new Emily Giffin just sitting on a shelf, read once and then abandoned?! Surely I was meant to be in this exact spot at this exact time to give it a proper home! $10 and 50 books later and I need another bookshelf to house the new additions to my home library. (see bookish problem #1!)

Bookish Problem #3:

I finally get that book I’ve been wanting for my collection only to realize…I now have to re-arrange my bookshelves again because I am out of space on that shelf and I cannot – absolutely CANNOT – have part of a series or group of books on one shelf and then have the rest of the series continue onto another shelf. I mean, you wouldn’t have Harry Potter 1-6 on one shelf and then put The Deathly Hallows on another shelf, right? And you wouldn’t just put The Cursed Child anywhere. It has to go with the other Potter books! (back to bookish problem #1!)

Bookish Problem #4:

Trying to assure people that I’m not antisocial just because I’d rather be reading than…well, just about anything. It’s not that I bring a book to the party because I don’t want to be social. It’s that sometimes parties get, well, boring, and I need to have a back-up plan. It’s often referred to as “Rory Gilmoring” it, and I do it with pride! I have no problem with good conversation, but I do have a problem with bad conversation. Cue the book, and my evening has been salvaged! This is why any new purse I buy must be big enough to fit at least one book in it, which is a whole other bookish problem – purse shopping when you often find yourself carrying around a small library!

Bookish Problem #5:

The looks I get when I lean in to take a hit of “new book smell.” I have not been shy in the past about my love of books, including the smell! I tell my hubby all the time that if we are ever in a bookstore together, he is welcome to wander away and pretend he doesn’t know me as I flip open a new book and breathe in the scent of freshly printed pages. But it’s not just new book smell. There is old book smell, paperback book smell, textbook smell, and library book smell to name a few. Old paperback book smell makes me nostalgic for summer reading by the beach. This is probably because I never went on vacation growing up without a paperback book, and I associate this smell with my childhood and vacations. But regardless of whether or not book smells bring up memories for you, book sniffing really is a thing. Notice, I didn’t say a normal thing. Heehee 😉

So…what are YOUR biggest bookish problems?!

– Kait